Search for B+ --> K+ lepton-plus-lepton-minus and B0 --> K*0 lepton-plus-lepton-minus

Using a sample of 3.7 x 106 upsilon(4S) --> B anti-B events collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II storage ring, the authors search for the electroweak penguin decays B+ --> K+e+e-, B+ --> K+mu+mu-,B0 --> K*0 e+e-, and B0 --> K*0mu+mu-. The authors observe no significant signals for these modes and set preliminary 90% C.L. upper limits of: beta(B+ --> K+e+e-) < 12.5 x 10-6; beta(B+ --> K+mu+mu-) < 8.3 x 10-6; beta(B0 --> K*0e+e-) < 24.1 x 10-6; and beta(B0 --> K*0mu+mu-) < 24.5 x 10-6